ara “Seven [impressed me]. He was shooting really hard with the Phantom” – ara on facing PCIFIC, GIANTX’s form, their map pool, & Operator meta changes

Eduard-George ‘ara’ Hanceriuc is only entering his second year of VCT competition after his GiantX debut in April of last year.

Yet, the young Duelist faces huge pressure as the attacking focal point of a GiantX roster that finished runners-up at EMEA Stage 2 2025.

Esports News UK spoke to ara following their scrappy 2-1 victory over PCIFIC at EMEA Kickoff 2026 to reflect on the match and GiantX’s early-season form.

“I would say people have really high expectations, especially from us. I mean, we’re still like a really rookie team. We’re still learning. Last season for me, it was the first one, same as Flickless.” – ara on expectations of GiantX’s roster

Esports News UK interviews GiantX’s ara:

How are you feeling as a team after that match?

We’re feeling good. We’re happy with this win.

It was important for us. Because in the first game we lost, and it was a bit rough for us, that loss.

But happy that we bounced back, and hopefully we can keep up this form.

On Abyss, you had a really hot start. You went 17-6 in the first half. How are you feeling with the Operator? Do you think it’s been helped in this meta because of the utility changes?

Yeah, the operator and especially Outlaw. They are really strong in this meta, since the 60-second delay on the refill.

I think it’s a really strong gun if you know how to play it. You need a bit of game knowledge as well to know how to play it.

pipsoN helped me with this, and I think I’m pretty good at it.

On the attack side, it took a couple of rounds to close it out. How are you feeling about Abyss as a team?

Abyss is, I think, one of our best maps, maybe.

Lately, we just couldn’t close the rounds, especially in the end. That’s why it seemed a bit rough, a bit, but only in the end.

But Abyss is one of our best maps, I would say.

First EVER Abyss ✅
First win ✅

Bind up next pic.twitter.com/aBtqRMzwLz

— VALORANT Esports EMEA (@vct_emea) January 28, 2026

For Bind, is that going to be a home map for you guys this year?

Bind, I don’t know about this, especially after today. We just threw a bit; we just couldn’t close the game.

But Bind is one of our good maps, I would say. But I think we are struggling just a bit with this, closing out the rounds.

And it makes us look a bit like we are struggling. But in reality, it’s just that we can’t close it.

So I would say, yeah, Bind is a good map for us overall, but we have to work on closing the rounds.

“It personally hurt me because on these maps, I was performing really good, especially on Ascent and Sunset.” – ara on recent map rotations

On Bind, you got stalled out a couple of times on Attack side and struggled to scale onto the site. Is that something you’re working on?

I think the problem on Bind was that we struggled against this Veto because we never scrimmed or played against a Veto, and it was kind of hard for us to adapt to it, I would say.

But we struggled with the plant because this Veto thing was really hard for us to counter. I mean, it’s not hard, but we just couldn’t think in the moment.

But after some rounds, I think Cloud and pipsoN found a solution, and it was much better. I think we ended up planting somehow.

There’s a lot of talk about Operator users switching to Veto and Chamber. Is that something you would consider coming into your game as an Operator user?

I mean, we have a Sentinel player westside, but the main Operator is me right now. So it doesn’t make sense to put a Westside on this agent because this agent is good on Op, very good.

So I think it will be… I don’t know, we didn’t really try it, so I don’t know much to say about this. Could be good, could be bad. I don’t know.

After that loss on Bind, how did you recover your composure going into the third map?

I mean, it’s a Best of 3. So it’s like a marathon, I would say. Even if we lost the second map, we kept our mental strong.

We knew that if we kept playing strong, we were going to win the last map eventually. So we didn’t really lose our faith.

Even when it was 6-10, everyone was believing, everyone was fired up to play. So I think we dealt pretty well with that.

“I would say Seven [impressed me]. He was really shooting hard with the Phantom… He made a good impression on me with this Phantom, and he seemed like a chill guy.” – ara on who impressed him from PCIFIC

Do you have any words for Cloud? He had a really crazy performance in the last couple of maps.

You can see him stepping up in these games. I mean, what can I say? Cloud played insane.

He’s also IGLing, and he might be one of the best IGLs in our league, I would say, based on his shooting, his calling.

ACE for @Cloudezeee pic.twitter.com/Pt20hOXqTw

— VALORANT Esports EMEA (@vct_emea) January 28, 2026

Because you made no changes, some analysts were expecting you to come into this season looking a bit sharper. Do you have any reason why you’re maybe not delivering as well as you did in EMEA Stage 2?

I would say people have really high expectations, especially from us. I mean, we’re still like a really rookie team.

We’re still learning. Last season for me, it was the first one, same as Flickless. We are still learning.

So I know the expectations are pretty high, but like we are working hard every day.

Sometimes we don’t live up to these expectations, but behind the scenes, it’s a lot of work.

So these expectations are a bit unfair, you know?

2-1 against @PCIFICespor, we will continue to work harder, thank you for all the support 🙏🏻 #GXWIN pic.twitter.com/3M9RAo05RY

— GX ara (@ara999_) January 28, 2026

Ascent and Sunset were good maps for you last year, maps that you were very competitive on. Do you think that the changes to the map pool hurt you more than they hurt some other teams?

I don’t know about our team overall, but it personally hurt me because on these maps, I was performing really good, especially on Ascent and Sunset.

But yeah, that’s how Valorant works. We have to like adapt to these new changes.

I don’t know if it affected our team, but personally, it affected me a bit because these maps, I really like to play them.

In terms of the newer maps, how are you finding them on an individual level?

I mean, I’m good with the new maps, but I feel like the last map pool was better for me.

Like this Ascent I really liked. I think everyone likes Ascent. Same as Sunset, same as Lotus. Lotus is not in the pool anymore.

And they added Pearl and Abyss. These maps are okay, but I wouldn’t take them over the last map pool.

You guys didn’t make any roster changes this year. What do you think are the advantages of that coming into this year?

A lot of teams have to like build this chemistry, but we didn’t change anything. So we still have this chemistry from last year.

We know each other’s habits and stuff. We know what we like to do, what we don’t like to do in-game, outside of the game.

These things, you learn them with the time playing with someone. So I think these are the advantages.

Also, the vibes in the team are very good because, as I said before, we are all a group of friends.

ara's best nAts impression pic.twitter.com/ZIcL3KG3Ve

— VALORANT Esports EMEA (@vct_emea) January 28, 2026

PCIFIC gave you a good fight today. Did anyone impress you on the team?

I would say Seven. He was really shooting hard with the Phantom. He punished me with the Flash for some rounds.

I think it comes from NA. The Phantom is like one of the most used; it’s more used than Vandal, and I didn’t really play against someone like that.

And he made a good impression on me with this Phantom, and he seemed like a chill guy.

ME AND YOU BROTHER 🗣️

An @INZONEbySony Flawless ft. @al0rante & @sevvn pic.twitter.com/4aBvl4lemf

— VALORANT Esports EMEA (@vct_emea) January 28, 2026

There was a bit of shouting back and forth during the match. Did you partake in any of that?

I mean, we were going back and forth. Cloud was more going back and forth with the other team. We were screaming at each other.

We were hearing also their screaming. It was like just this stage pressure, you know? Like these stage emotions. You have to take them out somehow.

You’ll play the winner of Heretics versus ULF. What do you think of those teams this year?

What will I choose between Heretics and ULF? I would say Heretics based on experience and stuff.

I think ULF changed two players because they are two players who were underage. I don’t really know much about them. They seem strong enough.

And Heretics were overall a good team with one change where Miniboo left, and ComeBack came. I would say they’re a solid team.

Do you think that the change benefits Heretics, or are you just waiting to see?

I don’t know. They played only one game, so we still have to wait a bit to see how it’s going to turn out.

Heretics keep it clean and send ULF to the Lower Bracket #VCTEMEA pic.twitter.com/jHf1cN6H1U

— VALORANT Esports EMEA (@vct_emea) January 28, 2026